MXI-3 with PXI-7344 etc blue screens

[marcusj]

Dear support folk,

This is a follow-on from unsolved problem discussed below. I have this problem on multiple computers now with varying severities. One machine is unuseable due to the frequency of blue screens. Is it our C-code perhaps? Please help - this problem is going to be the death of me!

Old question:
"Okay, this is driving me crazy! I've asked this question before and really didn't resolve the problem fully so here we go again. I have an MXI-3 card with PXI-6052E, 6508 and 7344 in cPCI chassis. Trouble is I get random bluescreen errors (especially towards the end of boot process but they can be anytime). This happens on just about every machine I install this hardware configuartion on. Disabling stuff like the c
om ports and killing background processes such as virus scanners seem to help a little but have never solved the problem. The latest installation won't go at all and bluescreens every time. I tried a Win 2000 installation and the boot-up blue screens disappeared but our software would not work properly (this could well be our fault though so I will restrict my question to the boot-up bluescreens). Any help would be very much appreciated!"

Old answer

"Hi,

There was a bug in the MXI-3 software that could cause a Windows page fault exception (0xE) on Windows 98. It is very rare, but there is a patch to fix it. I attached it below. If this does not solve the problem, please email us so that we can help you further. Go to http:\\www.ni.com\ask and select Email an Engineer. You will want to select PXI/VXI for the product.


Thank you,


Katie Shiels

[Greg Caesar]

Marcus,

The most common cause of problems with MXI-3 systems is simply not using the correct boot order. I would first verify the proper boot order (chassis first, then computer). Verify that the LINK LED comes on right after the computer boots, and that the LINK LED never, ever, blinks or strobes during operation. If the LINK LED goes out, strobes, blinks, etc, then a hardware problem with the link (PCI-MXI-3 board, PXI-MXI-3 board, or cable) is indicated.

If you continue to have blue-screens at boot, then the next step is to "divide-and-conquor" the system. What we want to do is make sure that none of the cards in the PXI (or CompactPCI) chassis are themselves causing the problem (for example, if a card has a resource conflict). For troubleshooting purposes, remove all cards from the PXI chassis, shutdown, and then power-up again with the proper boot sequence (chassis first, computer second). If the problems disappear, then a problem or resource conflict with one of the PXI / cPCI cards is indicated.

If the blue-screens continue, even with the hardware removed, then the next step would be to uninstall the MXI-3 Optimization software. What we are going after here is if it is during the run (every time at boot) of the MXI-3 optimization software that the blue screen occurs.

If none of these indicate the problem, then the "divide-and-conquor" approach requires us to determine if the problem is with the MXI-3 kit itself, or something specific to that computer. Two things to try. The first is to try the MXI-3 kit on a different machine. The second is to try another MXI-3 kit (if available) with that machine.

Through these steps, you should be able to isolate a single piece of hardware (a PXI card, the MXI-3 kit, the PC, etc) that is common to the problem.

(note, the bug referred to by Katie was specific to running the MXI-3 optimization software, not the MXI-3 hardware in general - so if you are seeing the problem she referred to, you should see the blue-screens disappear when the MXI-3 Optimization software is uninstalled).

As always, National Instruments Technical Support is only a phone-call away (7am - 7pm CST) if you want to work with a NI engineer on this procedure.

Regards,
Greg Caesar
Applications Engineer

[marcusj]

Greg,

Thanks for your response. I must appologise for giving you some misleading information, however. Now, the blue-screen never occurs during boot just randomly while my application is running. I have never noticed a problem with MAX software but I don't run that very often. However, MAX has generated an error on exit a few times. The LED does not blink at all. I have two systems running that are configured in the same way. One exhibits a severe case of the problem (every few minutes or so) the other can go for hours. Seems to be machine specific (maybe BIOS). One clue, the machine that runs for hours will ususally fail if one tries to do something else while the application is running, i.e. browsing the network, opening another application etc.


Thanks again,

Marcus.

[Greg Caesar]

Marcus,

Many possibilites. But anytime you have random crashes during operation of a computer while using specific hardware, you should suspect the dreaded resource conflict (some excellent discussion of resource conflicts in general is on www.pcguide.com). Some basic things you can do to check for these conflicts is the following:

(1) Verify Windows Device Manager reports no conflicts or problems (but just because it doesn't does not mean a conflict does not exist!).

(2) Run any and all hardware diagnostics available. For the MXI-3 kit, the MXI-3 Optimization Software does that job. For National Instruments DAQ products, this is done in MAX by getting properties on a board and doing a "Test Resources". For NI-Serial boards, this
is done by going to "Start >> Programs >> National Instruments >> NI-Serial >> Serial Diagnostics". For NI GPIB hardware, run through the "Getting Started Wizard". Some ethernet cards have diagnostics as well.

(3) Contact the computer manufacturer, or check their website, and install any BIOS upgrades available. The major PC manufacturers (such as Dell) make this pretty painless. I can't count the number of problems similar to this I've worked hard on, only to find it was a bug in an old BIOS version fixed 2 years earlier!


(4) Unplug the ethernet cable and see if the crash disappears when the ethernet cable is unplugged, which would indicate either a poor ethernet board or resource conflict b/w the ethernet board and some other hardware.

Also, if you see that MAX error on exit again, can you do two things for me? First, grab a screen snapshot or write down the error. Second, under the "Help" menu in MAX their is a little wizard to generate files for technical support
. Go ahead and run through that and send me the files with that snapshot.

Also, what does the blue-screen say?

Regards,
Greg Caesar
National Instruments,
Applications Engineer

[marcusj]

Here's what the blue screen says....


An exception 00 has occurred at 0028:C29A49A0 in VxD NIPALK(01) +
00000360. This was called from 0028:C29C7F20 in VxD NIPALK(01) +
000238E0. It may be possible to continue normally.

Press.....


Hope this helps 'cos nothing else has so far...

Marcus.